Ethereum set to undergo a PoW hard fork 24 hours after the Merge

The Merge is a momentous event for Ethereum and the investors as it will be bringing Proof of Stake (PoS) to the network. While the anticipation for the Merge is rising by the day since it will be making the chain more sustainable and scalable, it hasn’t been keeping everyone happy entirely.

In fact, a group disagrees with the notion of PoS so much that they have decided to chart a new course for Ethereum.

Ethereum and its two hard forks in 24 hours

A group come to known as ETHW Core announced on September 13 that the ETHW mainnet must be launched within 24 hours of the Merge to split the blockchain. The newly formed blockchain will thus continue down the Proof of Work (PoW) path that Ethereum started out with.

Calling PoW the backbone that web3 is built upon, the ETHW group stated last month that PoS is a game changer but only in bad ways. Calling it a way to hell for the livelihood for half the Ethereum ecosystem, the group vowed to continue with their plan and is now planning on executing a hard fork.

Their recent release on the same discussion read,

“PoW has a 12-year track record of being reliable, robust, and censorship resistant. It is only prudent to continue a PoW Ethereum, which should be a no-brainer for those who champion openness and the free market as there is no downside”.

Now the reason why a hard fork is necessary for continuing Proof of Work instead of continuing with the Merge chain is the upcoming difficulty bomb. Expected to be deployed in October this year, the difficulty bomb will increase with the difficulty of PoW mining to the point where the miners will have to shift to a different alternative.

Ethereum’s performance on the charts

ETH price was still doing well considering the market conditions up until 24 hours ago. However, following the release of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, the market took a hit. Following the broader market cues, ETH failed to breach the crucial $100 range between $1,669 and $1,761.

Ethereum 24-hour chart

At the time of writing, ETH was just at the cusp of losing the 23.6% Fibonacci level support as well. A slip from here will make it very difficult for ETH to recover as it would be trading below $1,500.